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jenna_justi2004's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Graphic: Biphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Blood, Medical content, Car accident, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria
fanboyriot's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Cursing, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Toxic friendship, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Body shaming, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Grief, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Biphobia, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail
kaabtik's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
i found myself drawn to this book because jeremy was literally all i was—an ambitious overachiever with too much glib than necessary. down to the name and his romantic experience, he felt like someone i could relate to. and boy did i relate to him. that much i expected.
what i also expected was for things to be happy. for this fictional jeremy to have what i couldn't: a way out and a happy ending. i expected the rage, the self destruction, and the fear.
what i got, for better or for worse, was a mess.
first off, this is not a lighthearted book. this is not a romantic comedy about a gay transguy falling out of and into (again) with his rival turned boyfriend turned ex. this is about two very messy boys fumbling for a light switch in the dark that is high school.
i bought this book because i wanted that. i wanted that so bad and seeing my name !! my experience !! to be given something i couldn't have made me so excited. instead i had all the darkest parts of being trans constantly thrown into my face every other page.
both jeremy and lukas are terrible people—both as individuals and as a couple. whatever tension they had was completely overshadowed by the fact that they were crossing multiple lines instead of sitting down and having a conversation. and i get it. queer kids don't have to be kind and understanding. but lukas literally sent out a presentation with jeremy's pre-transition photos to the entire student body. jeremy sunk ben—a very good friend to both of them— nearly costing him his shot at university applications.
and i get it. i get what the author is trying to do: to lash out righteous anger at everything that went wrong when they were younger. to stop being the polite queer kid and throw metaphorical and literal knives at everyone who crossed them. i fantasized about this power more times than i could admit and i wanted to cheer for jeremy. i really did.
but i couldn't. not when they were trampling over every good person in their group. not when a lot of their issues were swept under the rug at the final act for them to be back as a couple. not when there was barely anyone in the group who put their foot down and stopped the nonsense they were doing.
there were a lot of other problematic elements that other reviews have covered, as well. and i just. i felt betrayed, because i bought this physically and wanted to enjoy it so bad. but i can't in good faith recommend this to anyone. especially to young trans guys. who also want a love story of being some boy kissin some boy.
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia
Moderate: Deadnaming, Death, and Alcohol
Minor: Lesbophobia
melissamarie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, Transphobia, and Lesbophobia
urlocalhethey's review against another edition
3.0
Moderate: Lesbophobia
paskendus's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
It was an interesting read in a way, especially seeing teenagers showing anger and even being spiteful as a self preservation technique, but my oh my how they did not communicate. With each other or the adults. And the adults were... passive at best, so all around people just trying to survive on assumptions.
The writing felt repetitive at times and overly dramatic for my taste. I also did not feel a lot while reading the book, I got what the author wanted me to feel, but I just didn't. Characters made correct, good conclusions after something happening but I just did not see how they got there, that may be on me and lack of investment. I also think it was preachy and very on the nose at times.
And honestly I did not like the ending after all the messy things that happened everyone should have gotten some therapy to work through at least some of their personal stuff before being all lovie dovie. Or I at least would have loved to see the resolving their problems more.
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Homophobia, and Transphobia
Moderate: Ableism, Deadnaming, Death, Homophobia, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Grief, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria
thanmayi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Do not go into it wanting a cute romantic fairytale based on the cover! This book explores pretty dark themes and subjects and isn't really rainbows and sunshine. If you're looking for a cute queer book to read right now, this is not that I promise you.
Review:
Let’s start with the good part, this book had a lot of representation with a trans-MC, Autistic MC, a nonbinary character, and a bunch of more queer kids. It actually made me happy seeing this much rep first. The plot was okay and I did get through the book pretty quickly.
I think the book did a pretty good job at highlighting the trans issues in school and how teachers usually don’t pay as much attention to them as they should be and the issues with many school codes that do not include people in the binary.
Now to the not great bits…right after I put the book down I thought I liked it and it was going to be a 4 star read but after going through the notes I found a lot of issues both with the writing, the characters, and the plot.
The writing wasn’t great, I loved the first few pages of the book but when it comes to the scenes there was a lot of telling and no showing. The relationship between Jeremy and Lukas Felt off, their emotions could have been portrayed better given that the book was in dual POV.
I've got mixed feelings about Jeremy, he's self depricating with a god complex and is selfish almost completely throughout the book. There was 0 character development for him whatsoever. Yeah, I get that trans/gay person but showing them in such a negative light wasn't the way to go about it. I do get where he's coming from tho his anger and pain and all his issues were valid but his actions really had no justifications.
I liked Lukas’s character at the start and he’s really sweet and supportive for most of the book but towards the end, his character had the opposite of development. I think that the autism rep through the character was good as well, he felt more well-rounded than Jeremy.
The issues surrounding intersectionality was something that I think was the most problematic point of this book, I don’t think that the author did it any justice and a few parts actually felt like an attack on the lesbian and gay community instead of it being a conversation on the issue of why the trans youth are made to feel like imposters in the community when they are trans and gay.
A few situations and dialogues felt unrealistic and overdramatized and towards the end, the book felt like a drag.
So this brings me to my conclusion, is this book worth the read…it's worth a one-time read for sure. It does a good job at showing trans issues but lacks in other matters. Yeah, the characters are diverse but they also felt like plot points to advance the main characters and make them look better.
What you need to keep in mind is that this isn't supposed to be a fairytale and these are teenagers who make teenager-like mistakes. It’s not a bad book but it isn’t the best one out there if you want to see queerness represented.
Graphic: Homophobia, Transphobia, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Ableism, Lesbophobia, and Dysphoria
Minor: Deadnaming and Death
peachpit_gabe's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Moderate: Ableism, Biphobia, Bullying, Deadnaming, Death, Homophobia, Racism, Transphobia, and Lesbophobia
lish_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Ableism, Deadnaming, Hate crime, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Toxic friendship, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Biphobia, Death, Drug use, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Blood, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual assault
rainbcwboy's review against another edition
Moderate: Homophobia and Transphobia
Minor: Lesbophobia